ANDREWFENN

A R C H I T E C T U R E P O R T F O L I OS U M M E R 2 0 1 5

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CONTENTS

Rowhouse // Covington, KY

Formal Studies

Cooperative Education

Library on Ludlow // Cincinnati, OH

Furniture

Process Work

Final Scheme

Tectonic System: Diagrid

Misbehaved Space Frame

Unit-Based Construct

Anderson Architects

Gary Lee Partners

X-TABLE

3

5

9

11

13

15

17

19

21

Speculative massing + daylighting diagram of site

3

Beginning with an investigation of the rowhouse as a building type, this project focused heavily upon the building section as a means of organizing program and controlling the atmosphere of the building’s component spaces. Daylighting, facade treatment, and vertical circulation demanded greater atttention due to site and typological constraints, as did the specific programmatic requirements of the singer-songwriter-turned-urban-farmer client, who needed a studio insulated from noise, a vegetable garden, and a bedroom for visiting musicians.

ROWHOUSE // COVINGTON, KY

[rowhouse]

Iteration A

Iteration B

Iteration C

4

Rowhouse Model ImageNorth Elevation

South Elevation

5

As the facades of rowhouses often bear no relevance to the spaces of the buildings they adorn, I chose to investigate the potential of divorcing the facade entirely from the program within, and making it a symbolic (and operable) mediator of both privacy and light- a screen system that could be configured according to the inhabitants’ needs on any given day, for magnificent views of the Ohio river from the third floor master suite’s balcony or for cookouts down on the ground floor.

WORDEN HOUSE

[rowhouse]

Rowhouse Model Image

6

7

Rowhouses inherently possess only two potential open facades and a roof with which to allow light in, a challenge compounded by the slender proportion of the site. Consequently, sunlight became a strong driver of program, dictating that the client’s vegetable garden be located along the south side of the building, with a dumbwaiter in the kitchen providing access both to the garage and to the third floor greenhouse. The entertaining (public) and familial (private) programmatic elements of the house were then formally severed from each other using a large void in the form of a courtyard open to the east, with only tube-like pedestrian bridges on the second and third floor connecting the two forms. This then opened up a second south-facing glass facade in the courtyard, allowing sunlight to filter through the floating, iconic staircase into the client’s study and living spaces.

WORDEN HOUSE

[rowhouse]

8

9

As an investigation of both fabrication method and tectonic system, I tasked myself with creating an intricate and stable diagrid structure simply coating thread with thin layers of plaster, slowly building up form much like a manual version of a 3D plaster printer. Such an investigation has a number of potential future applications, as tensile cables are quick to assemble into networks and webs, and rapid fabrication technologies (such as concrete-printing robots) become available.

TECTONIC SYSTEM // DIAGRID

[formal studies]

10

01. basic triangular space frame unit 02. triangular space frame super-unit 03. curved translation of super-unit

04. stress-sensitive curve member 05. re-envisioned space frame super-unit 06. super-unit distortion

11

Pushing my previous investigation of the diagrid into another dimension, I began to work with a space frame- one of the simplest 3-dimensional tesselations of the equilateral triangle. My goal was to develop a more organic manifestation of the space frame, so I simplified the unit to its most basic geometric form, then joined six of the same shape to form an identical, larger form, using the smaller forms to separate the larger unit into specialized zones with specific structural purposes. Using the corners of the super-unit as structural points of contact with other units, three pairs of curved compression members were created from corner to opposing corner (to oppose loads multi-directionally), all joined together in a helix-like pattern at the unit’s core and thickened at connection points. Finally, the superstructure formed by the units was warped to create distortion within the very regular structural system, pushing it beyond the static into a more dynamic form.

DISTORTED SPACE FRAME

[formal studies]

12

13

Concieved as a study of the “unit” as an organizing system of form, our team began with the intent of creating a duality within our system consisting of both a visual and a structural unit. By using a unit composed of 6 seemingly butt-joined rectangular prisms, we were capable of slotting the units together and arranging them into configurations in which it seemed as though the framed structures were floating weightlessly, complimented by the light, poplar framing and semitransparent, breathable burlap panels.

UNIT-BASED CONSTRUCT

[formal studies]

14

15

ANDERSON ARCHITECTSMy time at Anderson Architects was primarily spent working on and contributing to retail projects, ranging from helping to build a model of a prototype store for a brand to providing rendered elevations and perspective views of proposed storefronts and spaces.

[co-op]

16

17 [co-op]

18

Working at GLP provided me with a wide range opportunities, from helping participate in the design of a space for a charity event (Dining by Design Chicago 2014, pictured above) to personally managing and completing a small project for a client on my own. My work spanned 3D modeling, rendering, drafting, assembling finish palettes, punch-listing completed projects, and far more.

GARY LEE PARTNERS

19 [library]

20

Proposed as a library for psychological studies, my intent was to exalt the awareness of others at all oppoprtunities within this building. Transparency and translucency were utilized not simply to increase awareness of others within the building, but also from the street, exposing parts of the lecture hall, stacks, and circultion of the building to the street and even forcing pedestrians to enter beneath the stacks. Even the monumental staircase located near reception at the nucleus of the building is made semi-transparent, minimized to a set of tapering, floating treads suspended by wire.

LIBRARY ON LUDLOW // CINCINATTI, OH

21

Working with plywood for its multi-directional strength and milling capabilities, my goal was to create a table that celebrated the laminated nature of the material, with particular attention to the usage of the linear, banded edge as a design opportunity. I set out, then, to create a design that not only utilized this unique edge condition as much as possible, but did so in a way that complimented the overall form of the table and provided dynamic views from nearly every angle. The design of the table is the result of the regularized morphing back and forth between a simple ‘V’ shape and a double-diamond shape, all while holding constant the overall dimensions of the shape. The ‘slice’ forms were then arranged in an order such that the edge profiles along the top formed an “X” in plan view (ideal for evenly supporting a top), and a simple rotated square when viewed from below.

X-TABLE

furniture

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